You know it never occurred to me that the floods in Iowa could even be considered on par with the disaster in New Orleans. I think the impact is relative to the sheer population involved more than the actual weather conditions. New Orleans is much more densely populated area with not only huge numbers centralized, but centralized over a very large area. Iowa and surrounding areas is a bunch of small to medium cities with varying degrees of exposure to the elements, even within city limits. I asked a friend who lives in Cedar Rapids to make sure if they were ok, and they said "oh we're high and dry" Many parts of that city were largely unaffected.